HD Media Players Gaming Stuff A massive round up of nearly all Find out which keyboard and the HD Media Players available in mouse will work the best TriedTried & tested tested 97 the market 102 for you

Aboard the Mothership Choosing the right for your system is an arduous task, specially with so many brands and chipsets to contend with. We make that task easier for you by testing over 30 boards (both Z68 and A75 chipset based) Source: photos.com Nimish Sawant pared back in January. The Z68 even though we’ve tested both G1 Sniper2 is the LGA1155 [email protected] chipset was launched in May and these chipsets, they should be iteration of the original G1 more recently, the A75 chipset considered as two separate com- Sniper which was available on hat moth- was introduced by AMD. We parison tests. the LGA1366 socket for the X58 erboard decided to do a shootout of chipset. The packaging of the should I boards based on these two Z68 Boards board and the board itself com- “Wbuy?” is chipsets. You can expect a `20,000 and up mand attention. A metallic bullet one of the most common ques- similar shootout of higher end A category of boards that is over- magazine acts as the heatsink for tions our readers ask us. Within chipsets, namely AMDs 990FX kill for most users, but there’s a the southbridge and has a cheeky , there are so many (already in the market) and definite demand for such boards. warning, “Not a weapon, cannot levels to consider that without ’s X79 (to be launched later It’s all about and be assembled as a firearm.” The proper guidance it’s very difficult this year) sometime next year. tweaking and of course the heatsink in the centre has five to pin down a specific board.DIGIT Needless to say, the Z68 and looks. We got three boards which LEDs that glow green when the This year saw the entry of A75 are two completely different were priced well over `20,000 board is powered on. Intel’s Sandy Bridge mother- chipsets and boards housing namely, the Gigabyte Z68X-UD7- The G1 Sniper 2 has features boards with the P67 and H67 these chipsets are not compa- B3, Maximus IV Extreme such as an on-board BigFoot chipsets, which Digit com- rable. For this precise reason, Z and Gigabyte G1 Sniper 2. Killer E2100 NIC and Creative

88 Digit | November 2011 | www.thinkdigit.com Bazaar Automatic OC faceoff Acer S3 , G’Five Tom’s Hardware did a piece on automatic G20 gaming phone, Microsoft overclocking and OC buttons on Mobos 106 Touch Mouse 2.... http://goo.gl/7HQ4a Motherboards Test

HOW WE TESTED

e believe that a motherboard’s per- For Intel Z68 boards the spacing between PCIe and PCI slots. If formance is completely a function of Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K a dual-slot card blocked the next PCIe slot, Wits components. The higher specced HDD: WD Velociraptor 600 GB marks were deducted. the components, the better the performance RAM: 2x2GB Kingston HyperX RAM For build quality we noted the sturdiness that you’ll get. For the same chipset, the varia- Graphics Card: ZOTAC GTX 560 of the heat sinks around the VRM (Voltage tion in performance is not very evident from our Power Supply: Cooler Master GX 650W Regulator Module) regions and the southbridge. scores. The difference is within the margin of OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Motherboards lacking a heatsink around the error. This can be easily understood by the fact For AMD Boards VRM region got a lesser score. Boards with all that benchmark scores from a `8,000 board are Processor: AMD A8-3850 solid state capacitors got a higher score. Back quite similar to the benchmark scores from a HDD: WD Velociraptor 600 GB panel I/O ports were noted and also the option `30,000 motherboard, give or take five percent. RAM: 2x2GB Kingston HyperX RAM to expand USB ports. Fan connectors and SATA So it ultimately boils down to the feature set Graphics Card: Integrated GPU AMD connections were noted. you’re getting with the motherboard, the build HD6550D Overclocking features such as utilities and quality, ease of overclocking and other factors. Power Supply: Cooler Master GX 650W on-board chip additions were taken into consid- Keeping this in mind, we decided to not give any OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 eration. Boards having more options to overclock weightage to the performance scores. We have and tweak got a higher score. Also, the BIOS run the benchmarks, and the scores are shared The layout of the board was scored, we user experience was noted. Boards which didn’t in the tables on the following pages. In our final checked if there was enough spacing around have a UEFI BIOS got a lower score since that’s evaluation though, we’ve not considered these the CPU region to comfortably attach the CPU the future. scores as they don’t give you an estimation of cooler and which direction the SATA ports We did a thorough checking and testing the motherboard’s value. were pointing (those pointing up got a lesser (wherever applicable) of the feature set offered Our Test Rig comprised of the following score). Spacing between the RAM slots and by a motherboard and based on the price, have components: the graphics card was checked. We also noted decided on the winners.

digital audio processor. It also The ASUS Maximus IV houses on-board amplifiers to Extreme Z belongs to the drive audio. On-board implemen- Republic of Gamers (RoG) series. tation of a good sound processor Build Quality is top-notch with is impressive for most users, but attractive crimson-black heat hardcore audiophiles will be sinks with multiple fins around disappointed and will invest in the CPU. The RoG logo glows red a dedicated sound card anyway. when the system is powered on. There’s a dedicated overclock Eight fan-connectors on-board button on the back I/O panel to will ensure sufficient cooling

Source: photos.com overclock the processor on the for your system. fly without having to reboot the The Maximus IV Extreme Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3-iSSD system. Display ports are natu- houses an NF200 chip rally absent. And needless to say, which controls second and fourth cards in SLI at x16/x16 speed (slot account. So, this shouldn’t be one it’s high time Gigabyte revamped PCIe16x slot, while the proces- 2 and 4), but there isn’t much of a of the reasons for you to consider the BIOS, Touch BIOS is a gim- sor’s integrated controller con- difference between the two con- this board. For those planning on mick and is nothing like the expe- trols the first and third. What this figurations as latency from the a three-way SLI setup, NF200 rience on a UEFI BIOS. DIGITmeans is that you can run two NF200 chip has to be taken into does help.

Digit | November 2011 | www.thinkdigit.com 89 Nokia & NFC ASUS Zenbook UX21 Teardown Nokia launches NFC Hub to help in business Asus’ latest ultra-slim , the 11-inch Zenbook development growth. http://bit.ly/oQ0lkx was taken apart to pieces. http://bit.ly/ob2c68 Tried & tested

november 2011 november 2011 Z68 Motherboards Under `10,000 `10,000 to `14,000 `14,000 to `20,000 `20,000 and up Brand ASRock Gigabyte ASUS Intel ZOTACASUS ASUS ASUS MSI ASUS ZOTAC MSI Gigabyte ASUS MSI ASRock Gigabyte ASUS Gigabyte Z68 Z68 P8Z68 Z68 ITX P8Z68-V Maximus Z68MA- P8Z68-V Z68A-GD65 Z68XP- P8Z68 Z68X UD7 Maximus IV Model No. TZ68K+ Extreme3 Z68AP-D3 DZ68D8 P8Z68-V Z68 ITX B-E Z68A-GD80 Extreme7 G1 Sniper 2 MPro A-E LE IV GENE Z ED55 Pro B3 UD3-iSSD Deluxe B3 Extreme Z Gen3 Gen 3 Price (in `) 7,990 8,800 9,880 9,901 10,000 10,600 10,994 13,041 13,110 13,500 14,248 14,400 14,980 16,250 17,997 18,900 18,999 23,920 26,220 34,500 Features and Specs (Out of 70) 24.57 33.32 18.62 25.62 16.87 18.48 26.04 30.24 34.16 28.42 30.38 16.45 29.33 25.13 32.69 31.43 37.8 26.11 37.03 22.61 Board Layout (Out of 10) 6.5 7.4 7.3 6.6 6 6 6.6 7.6 7.3 6.8 7.2 6 7.15 7.3 7.5 6.9 7.2 7.35 7.6 7.5 Build Quality (Out of 15) 11.1 12.825 10.95 10.95 5.25 9.9 11.25 12.825 13.65 12.75 12.825 9.975 11.55 11.7 12.825 13.05 13.425 13.2 13.65 12.6 Package Bundle (Out of 5) 1.2 1 1.2 1.2 0.6 1.2 1.2 1.6 1.3 0.6 1.6 1.2 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.75 2 2.4 1.6 Overall (Out of 100) 43.37 54.545 38.07 44.37 28.72 35.58 45.09 52.265 56.41 48.57 52.005 33.625 49.63 45.73 54.615 52.98 60.175 48.66 60.68 44.31 Specifications Max. Memory Supported (GB) / No of DIMMs 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 2 / 16 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 2 / 16 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 No. of SATA 2 / SATA 3 / eSATA Ports 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/1 2/2/1 2/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/2 2/2/0 4/4/0 4/2/0 4/2/2 4/3/0 4/6/0 4/2/2 4/2/2 2/2/2 No. of PCI Express x16 Graphics Slots 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 3 0 2 2 3 3 5 4 4 2 Multi GPU (SLI/CrossFire) Support Y/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y N/N N/N Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y N/N Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Optical S/PDIF Port / LAN Port N/1 Y/1 N/1 Y/1 N/1 Y/2 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2 Y/1 Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) NNN N NY NNN N N Y N N N N N N N N No. of Ports: USB 2.0/USB 3.0 2/2 4/2 4/2 4/2 6/2 4/2 4/2 6/2 8/2 4/2 6/2 2/2 4/2 8/2 8/2 4/2 2/4 2/6 1/8 7/2 No. of Ports: FireWire / eSATA 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/1 1/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/2 1/0 0/1 0/1 0/0 1/0 1/2 1/1 1/1 2/2 0/2 0/1 Display Ports DVI / VGA / HDMI / Display Port Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N N/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/Y Y/N/Y/Y N/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N N/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/N/Y/Y Y/Y/Y/N N/N/Y/N N/N/N/N Y/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/Y N/N/N/N N/N/N/N N/N/Y/N Power and Reset Buttons (Y/N) Y Y N N NY NY Y Y Y N N N Y Y Y Y Y N UEFI BIOS / Lucid Virtu (Y/N) Y/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y N/Y N/N Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y N/N Y/Y N/Y Headers: USB 2.0 / USB 3.0 3/0 4/0 3/0 5/0 4/0 2/1 4/1 3/1 2/1 4/0 3/1 1/1 3/1 3/1 2/1 3/1 4/1 2/2 4/1 3/1 POST debug LED / Button for overclocking N/N Y/N N/N N/N N/N Y/N N/N N/N Y/Y N/Y N/N N/N N/Y N/N Y/N N/Y Y/N Y/N Y/Y N/Y Total Fan Connectors 3 6 4 3 3 2 4 6 5 4 6 2 5 4 5 5 6 6 8 5 Form Factor ATX ATX ATX MicroATX ATX Mini ITX ATX ATX MicroATX MicroATX ATX Mini ITX ATX ATX ATX ATX ATX ATX eATX ATX Board Layout (So 10) Region around CPU / SATA Port Location 6.5/5 7/7 6.5/7 7/5 6.5/5 6/5 7/5 7/7.5 6.5/7 6.5/7 6/7 6/5 6.5/7 6.5/7 6.5/7.5 6.5/6 6.5/7.5 7.5/7 8/7 7.5/7 Placement of Memory Modules 8 8 8 8 6 7 8 8 8 6 8 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 Graphics Card Slot and PCI Slots 8 8 8 8 7 7 8 8 8 7 8 7 7.5 8 8 8 7 7.5 8 8 Build Quality All Solid State Caps (Y/N) Y Y Y Y NY Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Button Build / Feedback 4/8 7/8 NA NA NA 4/6 NA 7/8 8/8 8/8 7/8 5/6 NA NA 7/8 8/8 7/8 8/8 8/8 NA VRM/Southbridge Heatsink Quality 4/5 7/7 5.5/6 5.5/6 0/5 5.5/5 5.5/7 7/7 8.5/8 6.5/7 7/7 5.5/5 6.5/7 6.5/7.5 7/7 7.5/7 8.5/7.5 8/7 8.5/8 9/8 Package Bundle No of SATA Cables 4 2 4 4 2 4 4 4 3 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 4 4 4 USB 3 Bracket 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 N 0 1 1 1 N 1 1 1 1 0 1 CrossFire / SLI Bridge 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 Performance (Only for reference) Cinebench R11.5 (OpenGL /CPU (all cores)) 51.74/6.66 51.85/6.68 52.42/6.79 51.19/6.83 55.91/6.98 49.75/6.5 51.42/6.87 51.67/6.76 52.04/6.83 50.45/6.61 52.68/6.86 25.1/6.65 51.21/6.62 55.47/6.86 53.23/6.86 51.29/6.64 51.1/6.68 50.78/6.59 52.68/6.88 51.49/6.62 3D Mark Overall 4150 4109 4154 4174 4178 4146 4182 4180 4179 4174 4102 1141 4159 4134 4177 4145 4144 4134 4185 4145 WinRAR 4.0 (Multi-threaded) 3503 3509 3505 3516 3687 3491 3529 3535 3515 3503 3370 3314 3505 3535 3529 3493 3491 3490 3544 3484 100 MB file Video Encoding (VOB-DivX 7) (sec) 20.28 19.35 20.79 19.42 19.39 20.52 19.52 19.6 19.51 20.42 20.23 20.76 20.42 19.97 19.34 20.34 20.41 20.51 20.07 20.86 File Transfer (Sequential /Assorted) (MB/s) 45.7/48.5 41.2/47.2 47.5/48.5 41.2/41.2 46.8/47.5 44.8/49.1 46.2/46.2 46.38/47.1 47.3/49.2 46.9/48.7 46.1/46.4 45.1/43.5 46.7/45.4 46.7/46.5 47.2/46.3 47.5/44.4 48.54/44.3 47.2/45.3 45.8/46.2 44.8/45.2 USB 3.0 Sequential Write/Read (MB/s) 66.1/84.8 64.8/88.1 66.7/88.3 65.6/86.5 65.6/83.5 66.5/85.4 65.4/86.6 67.1/85.5 65.1/85.5 68.5/84.5 67.1/86.3 61.1/81.5 67.7/85.2 63.1/82.1 65.4/86.3 68.6/83.4 67.5/82.2 66.0/80.1 65.8/86.1 67.0/81.1 USB 3.0 Assorted Write/Read (MB/s) 44.7/70.2 44.8/73.7 47.4/71.4 44.4/72.2 44.6/67.5 46.9/72.7 44.4/77.7 44.8/71.8 47.6/71.6 44.7/72.3 44.3/71.9 25.8/68.4 45.6/71.3 44.3/67.4 44.4/72.7 44.5/72.2 41.4/70.2 45.2/72.16 45.1/73.1 45.2/68.7 Game Resident Evil 5 (1680x1050, med) 178.2 176.2 180.2 180.2 190.8 175.4 181.2 181.9 180.2 178.4 178.2 70.7 175.8 182.4 181.1 176.5 178.4 174.4 179.1 177.9 STALKER: COP (1680x1050, med) 164.7 164.9 165.6 163.1 164.2 163.2 163.7 164.8 165 164.2 163.4 44.8 162.5 163.2 165.2 163.3 164.2 163.3 165.2 164.1

On-board RoG features are do the tweaking using an iPad or byte’s flagship Z68 board and the heatsinks are connected also quite exhaustive and give you even an iPhone, a decent feature comes with the traditional bells via a heat pipe which assists many ways to overclock or tweakDIGIT to show off to your pals. A BIOS and whistles of all UD7 boards. in heat dissipation. Com- your way through. RoG Connect switch allows you to maintain a A black-coloured PCB densely pared to G1 Sniper2, this allows you to connect your moth- copy of your stable BIOS while packed with ICs provides board has a good assortment erboard to a notebook and tune it you tinker with the other BIOS. a perfect background to the of back I/O panel ports. A on the fly. With iDirect, you can The Z68X-UD7-B3 is Giga- grey/golden heatsinks. All dedicated Start button and POST

90 Digit | November 2011 | www.thinkdigit.com Steve Jobs was opposed to apps Five pros of Google+ Excerpts from Jobs’ authorized biography reveals the Apple Google+ has had its detractors but they’re wrong. visionary was initially opposed to all things apps. Google+ is awesome. http://gizmo.do/mQ5M6j

november 2011 november 2011 november 2011 Z68 Motherboards Under `10,000 `10,000 to `14,000 `14,000 to `20,000 `20,000 and up Brand Biostar ASRock Gigabyte ASUS Intel ZOTAC ASUS ASUS ASUS MSI ASUS ZOTACMSI Gigabyte ASUS MSI ASRock Gigabyte ASUS Gigabyte Z68 Z68 P8Z68 Z68 ITX P8Z68-V Maximus Z68MA- P8Z68-V Z68A-GD65 Z68XP- P8Z68 Z68X UD7 Maximus IV Model No. TZ68K+ Extreme3 Z68AP-D3 DZ68D8 P8Z68-V Z68 ITX B-E Z68A-GD80 Extreme7 G1 Sniper 2 MPro A-E LE IV GENE Z ED55 Pro B3 UD3-iSSD Deluxe B3 Extreme Z Gen3 Gen 3 Price (in `) 7,990 8,800 9,880 9,901 10,000 10,600 10,994 13,041 13,110 13,500 14,248 14,400 14,980 16,250 17,997 18,900 18,999 23,920 26,220 34,500 Features and Specs (Out of 70) 24.57 33.32 18.62 25.62 16.87 18.48 26.04 30.24 34.16 28.42 30.38 16.45 29.33 25.13 32.69 31.43 37.8 26.11 37.03 22.61 Board Layout (Out of 10) 6.5 7.4 7.3 6.6 6 6 6.6 7.6 7.3 6.8 7.2 6 7.15 7.3 7.5 6.9 7.2 7.35 7.6 7.5 Build Quality (Out of 15) 11.1 12.825 10.95 10.95 5.25 9.9 11.25 12.825 13.65 12.75 12.825 9.975 11.55 11.7 12.825 13.05 13.425 13.2 13.65 12.6 Package Bundle (Out of 5) 1.2 1 1.2 1.2 0.6 1.2 1.2 1.6 1.3 0.6 1.6 1.2 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.75 2 2.4 1.6 Overall (Out of 100) 43.37 54.545 38.07 44.37 28.72 35.58 45.09 52.265 56.41 48.57 52.005 33.625 49.63 45.73 54.615 52.98 60.175 48.66 60.68 44.31 Specifications Max. Memory Supported (GB) / No of DIMMs 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 2 / 16 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 2 / 16 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 4 / 32 No. of SATA 2 / SATA 3 / eSATA Ports 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/1 2/2/1 2/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/0 4/2/2 2/2/0 4/4/0 4/2/0 4/2/2 4/3/0 4/6/0 4/2/2 4/2/2 2/2/2 No. of PCI Express x16 Graphics Slots 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 3 0 2 2 3 3 5 4 4 2 Multi GPU (SLI/CrossFire) Support Y/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y N/N N/N Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y N/N Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Optical S/PDIF Port / LAN Port N/1 Y/1 N/1 Y/1 N/1 Y/2 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/1 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2 Y/2 Y/1 Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) NNN N NY NNN N N Y N N N N N N N N No. of Ports: USB 2.0/USB 3.0 2/2 4/2 4/2 4/2 6/2 4/2 4/2 6/2 8/2 4/2 6/2 2/2 4/2 8/2 8/2 4/2 2/4 2/6 1/8 7/2 No. of Ports: FireWire / eSATA 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/1 1/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/2 1/0 0/1 0/1 0/0 1/0 1/2 1/1 1/1 2/2 0/2 0/1 Display Ports DVI / VGA / HDMI / Display Port Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N N/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/Y Y/N/Y/Y N/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N N/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/N/Y/Y Y/Y/Y/N N/N/Y/N N/N/N/N Y/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/Y N/N/N/N N/N/N/N N/N/Y/N Power and Reset Buttons (Y/N) Y Y N N NY NY Y Y Y N N N Y Y Y Y Y N UEFI BIOS / Lucid Virtu (Y/N) Y/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y N/Y N/N Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y N/Y Y/Y Y/Y Y/Y N/N Y/Y N/Y Headers: USB 2.0 / USB 3.0 3/0 4/0 3/0 5/0 4/0 2/1 4/1 3/1 2/1 4/0 3/1 1/1 3/1 3/1 2/1 3/1 4/1 2/2 4/1 3/1 POST debug LED / Button for overclocking N/N Y/N N/N N/N N/N Y/N N/N N/N Y/Y N/Y N/N N/N N/Y N/N Y/N N/Y Y/N Y/N Y/Y N/Y Total Fan Connectors 3 6 4 3 3 2 4 6 5 4 6 2 5 4 5 5 6 6 8 5 Form Factor ATX ATX ATX MicroATX ATX Mini ITX ATX ATX MicroATX MicroATX ATX Mini ITX ATX ATX ATX ATX ATX ATX eATX ATX Board Layout (So 10) Region around CPU / SATA Port Location 6.5/5 7/7 6.5/7 7/5 6.5/5 6/5 7/5 7/7.5 6.5/7 6.5/7 6/7 6/5 6.5/7 6.5/7 6.5/7.5 6.5/6 6.5/7.5 7.5/7 8/7 7.5/7 Placement of Memory Modules 8 8 8 8 6 7 8 8 8 6 8 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 Graphics Card Slot and PCI Slots 8 8 8 8 7 7 8 8 8 7 8 7 7.5 8 8 8 7 7.5 8 8 Build Quality All Solid State Caps (Y/N) Y Y Y Y NY Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Button Build / Feedback 4/8 7/8 NA NA NA 4/6 NA 7/8 8/8 8/8 7/8 5/6 NA NA 7/8 8/8 7/8 8/8 8/8 NA VRM/Southbridge Heatsink Quality 4/5 7/7 5.5/6 5.5/6 0/5 5.5/5 5.5/7 7/7 8.5/8 6.5/7 7/7 5.5/5 6.5/7 6.5/7.5 7/7 7.5/7 8.5/7.5 8/7 8.5/8 9/8 Package Bundle No of SATA Cables 4 2 4 4 2 4 4 4 3 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 4 4 4 USB 3 Bracket 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 N 0 1 1 1 N 1 1 1 1 0 1 CrossFire / SLI Bridge 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 Performance (Only for reference) Cinebench R11.5 (OpenGL /CPU (all cores)) 51.74/6.66 51.85/6.68 52.42/6.79 51.19/6.83 55.91/6.98 49.75/6.5 51.42/6.87 51.67/6.76 52.04/6.83 50.45/6.61 52.68/6.86 25.1/6.65 51.21/6.62 55.47/6.86 53.23/6.86 51.29/6.64 51.1/6.68 50.78/6.59 52.68/6.88 51.49/6.62 3D Mark Overall 4150 4109 4154 4174 4178 4146 4182 4180 4179 4174 4102 1141 4159 4134 4177 4145 4144 4134 4185 4145 WinRAR 4.0 (Multi-threaded) 3503 3509 3505 3516 3687 3491 3529 3535 3515 3503 3370 3314 3505 3535 3529 3493 3491 3490 3544 3484 100 MB file Video Encoding (VOB-DivX 7) (sec) 20.28 19.35 20.79 19.42 19.39 20.52 19.52 19.6 19.51 20.42 20.23 20.76 20.42 19.97 19.34 20.34 20.41 20.51 20.07 20.86 File Transfer (Sequential /Assorted) (MB/s) 45.7/48.5 41.2/47.2 47.5/48.5 41.2/41.2 46.8/47.5 44.8/49.1 46.2/46.2 46.38/47.1 47.3/49.2 46.9/48.7 46.1/46.4 45.1/43.5 46.7/45.4 46.7/46.5 47.2/46.3 47.5/44.4 48.54/44.3 47.2/45.3 45.8/46.2 44.8/45.2 USB 3.0 Sequential Write/Read (MB/s) 66.1/84.8 64.8/88.1 66.7/88.3 65.6/86.5 65.6/83.5 66.5/85.4 65.4/86.6 67.1/85.5 65.1/85.5 68.5/84.5 67.1/86.3 61.1/81.5 67.7/85.2 63.1/82.1 65.4/86.3 68.6/83.4 67.5/82.2 66.0/80.1 65.8/86.1 67.0/81.1 USB 3.0 Assorted Write/Read (MB/s) 44.7/70.2 44.8/73.7 47.4/71.4 44.4/72.2 44.6/67.5 46.9/72.7 44.4/77.7 44.8/71.8 47.6/71.6 44.7/72.3 44.3/71.9 25.8/68.4 45.6/71.3 44.3/67.4 44.4/72.7 44.5/72.2 41.4/70.2 45.2/72.16 45.1/73.1 45.2/68.7 Game Resident Evil 5 (1680x1050, med) 178.2 176.2 180.2 180.2 190.8 175.4 181.2 181.9 180.2 178.4 178.2 70.7 175.8 182.4 181.1 176.5 178.4 174.4 179.1 177.9 STALKER: COP (1680x1050, med) 164.7 164.9 165.6 163.1 164.2 163.2 163.7 164.8 165 164.2 163.4 44.8 162.5 163.2 165.2 163.3 164.2 163.3 165.2 164.1

debug LED are helpful additions Another interesting feature specially when compared then we doubt anyone would be and so is the Gigabyte DualBIOS, is that you can use the USB 3.0 with the beautiful BIOS on the using integrated graphics in the which lets you keep a backupDIGIT ports as charging points for USB ASUS board. Absence of Lucid first place assuming you house of the stable BIOS in one devices even when Virtu support on the board graphics on this board. chip. Three-way SLI at x16/ your system is off or in standby. means that you won’t be able to In terms of future-proofing, x8/x8 is possible due to the The BIOS is the only use integrated graphics for all the boards have BIOSes to NF200 chip. sore point about this board tasks such as transcoding, but make them compatible with the

Digit | November 2011 | www.thinkdigit.com 91 Superheated TVs Purple Roku LT Sony to recall 1.6 million bravia Arriving this month at a price of `2,500, TV`s due to mellting components the Roku LT is a lite version lacking Tried & tested http://engt.co/oxz1KN bluetooth and a card reader

A75 Motherboards Brand ASUS Gigabyte Gigabyte Biostar ZOTAC ECS ASUS ASUS ASUS MSI Gigabyte ASRock ASRock F1A75M F1A75-M Model No. F1A75-V PRO A75M-D2H A75M-UD2H TA75A+ A75ITX A-E A75F-M F1A75M A75MA-G55 A75-D3H A75 Extreme6 A75 Pro4-M Pro LE Price (in `) 8,648 6,370 6,591 6,800 7,990 5,000 6,704 7,100 6,158 6,865 7,020 7,500 5,950 Specifications (Out of 70) 33.6 27.23 30.17 31.22 27.79 29.33 29.82 31.15 25.13 25.62 32.2 40.04 28 Board Layout (Out of 10) 7.3 6.3 6.3 7.8 6.05 6.95 7.6 7.6 5.9 6.45 6.9 7.6 6.05 Build Quality (Out of 20) 11.2 7.9 11.5 12.5 10 3 7.6 11.8 7.6 12.4 7.9 15.1 11.2 Grand Total (Out of 100) 52.1 41.43 47.97 51.52 43.84 39.28 45.02 50.55 38.63 44.47 47 62.74 45.25 Specifications Max. Memory Supported (GB) / No of DIMMs 64 / 4 32 / 2 64 / 4 64 / 4 32 / 2 64 / 4 64 / 4 64 / 4 32 / 2 64 / 4 64 / 4 64 / 4 64 / 4 No. of SATA 3 ports 6 6 5 6 4 6 6 6 6 6 5 8 5 No. of PCI Express x16 graphics slots 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 Optical SPDIF Port / LAN Port Y / 1 Y / 1 Y / 1 N / 1 Y / 2 Y / 1 Y / 1 Y / 1 N / 1 N / 1 Y / 1 Y / 1 Y / 1 Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) N N N N Y N NN N N N N N No. of ports: USB 2.0/USB 3.0/FireWire/eSATA 2/4/0/1 4/2/0/1 4/2/1/1 4/2/0/0 0/6/0/0 4/2/0/0 4/2/0/0 2/4/0/0 4/2/0/0 4/2/0/0 2/4/0/1 2/4/1/1 2/4/0/1 Display Ports DVI / VGA / HDMI / Display Port Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/ N Y/Y/Y/N Y/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/N/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Power and Reset Buttons (Y/N) N N N Y N N NN N N N Y N Headers: USB 3.0 / USB 2.0 1 / 4 1 / 1 1 / 2 1 / 3 1 / 2 1 / 3 1 / 3 1 / 4 1 / 3 1 / 2 1 / 4 1 / 3 0 / 2 Debug LED (Y/N) N N N Y N N NN N N N Y N Fan Connectors 4 2 2 3 1 2 3 4 2 3 3 6 4 Micro Board Form factor ATX MicroATX Micro ATX ATX Mini ITX Micro ATX MicroATX Micro ATX Micro ATX ATX ATX Micro ATX ATX Board Layout (So 10) Region around the CPU 7 7 7 7 6.5 6.5 6 6 5 6 5 6 6.5 Location of SATA Ports 7 5 5 8 5 6.5 8 8 5 6 7 8 5 Placement of Memory modules 8 8 8 8 7 8 8 8 8 7 8 8 7 Graphics card slot and PCI slots 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 Build Quality All Solid State Caps (Y/N) Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Button build 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 Button Feedback 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 VRM Heatsink Quality 6 0 6 5.5 5 0 0 7 0 7.5 0 7 5.5 Southbridge Heatsink Quality 6 6.5 6.5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 Performance Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 26.01 26.45 26.34 26.25 26.56 26.46 26.14 26.19 26.14 26.44 26.72 26.56 25.97 CPU (All cores) 3.45 3.48 3.39 3.47 3.32 3.4 3.41 3.42 3.45 3.45 3.43 3.45 3.45 3D Mark 11 Overall 1035 1029 1031 1017 1033 1023 1029 1024 1026 1033 1033 1007 1008 WinRAR 4.0 (Multi threaded) 1828 1841 1841 1828 1775 1777 1821 1764 1771 1834 1790 1834 1834 100 MB file Video Encoding (VOB-DivX 7) (sec) 40.07 39.04 39.43 40.22 40.53 40.59 40.28 40.08 41.03 40.23 39.64 39.58 40.12 File Transfer Sequential / Assorted (MB/s) 43.72/41.88 44.04/42.22 45.79/43.04 46.02/44.57 46.11/41.02 44.4/43.43 45.2/45.2 41.0/41.5 45.16/44.4 46.13/44.19 47.04/46.4 45.33/45.2 45.1/45.0 USB 3.0 Sequential Write / Read (MB/s) 62.06/77.22 62.64/77.6 63.01/77.5 63.01/76.5 64.72/77.67 62.95/79.28 66.6/78.2 65.4/77.2 65.04/77.2 65.37/77.8 65.24/78.7 64.4/83.3 46.3/65.2 USB 3.0 Assorted Write / Read (MB/s) 25.92/62.5 23.4/62.51 26.59/59.76 24.23/57.54 40.89/61.16 40.93/62.84 41.5/62.8 40.5/61.7 41.45/62.1 43.68/63.43 44.1/63.44 47.53/65.4 46.3/65.2 Game Resident Evil 5 (1680x1050, med) 43.2 42.9 42.9 42.8 41.4 42.8 42.7 42.4 43.1 43.5 44.5 42.8 42.6 STALKER: COP (1680x1050, med) 26.6 26.4 26.4 26.2 25.6 26.1 26.1 26.2 26.2 26.4 26.5 25.9 25.8

Ivy Bridge family of processors. will be supported by future `14,000 to `20,000 One board that seems out of But we doubt anyone would want graphics cards running along- Enthusiasts who don’t want the place here is the ZOTAC Z68ITX to move from Sandy Bridge so side the Ivy Bridge CPUs. bells and whistles of the RoG B-E. This board has an onboard soon. Only the G1 Sniper 2 offers Winners: ASUS Maximus series or the G1 killer, will look NVIDIA GT 430 graphics PCIe 3.0 support (whichDIGIT has IV Extreme Z won the Best Buy for boards in this price bracket. module. Needless to say, this almost double the bandwidth thanks to its overall highest We look for boards that offer isn’t an enthusiast board and is that is offered by PCIe 2.0) score. Its feature set and over- a great build and important an ideal candidate for an HTPC thanks to the Pericom PI3PCIE clocking options give it an edge feature set, and good over- setup thanks to the variety of switches. PCIe 3.0 standard over the competing boards. clocking options. display ports, an onboard

92 Digit | November 2011 | www.thinkdigit.com PlayStation 3D display coming Vengeance is sweet The $499 24-inch display will begin shipping to stores and Corsair announced the launch of its to pre-orders on November 13 “rigorously-screened“, 8 GB RAM modules Motherboards Test

november 2011 A75 Motherboards

Brand ASUS Gigabyte Gigabyte Biostar ZOTAC ECS ASUS ASUS ASUS MSI Gigabyte ASRock ASRock november 2011 F1A75M F1A75-M Model No. F1A75-V PRO A75M-D2H A75M-UD2H TA75A+ A75ITX A-E A75F-M F1A75M A75MA-G55 A75-D3H A75 Extreme6 A75 Pro4-M Pro LE Price (in `) 8,648 6,370 6,591 6,800 7,990 5,000 6,704 7,100 6,158 6,865 7,020 7,500 5,950 Specifications O( ut of 70) 33.6 27.23 30.17 31.22 27.79 29.33 29.82 31.15 25.13 25.62 32.2 40.04 28 Board Layout (Out of 10) 7.3 6.3 6.3 7.8 6.05 6.95 7.6 7.6 5.9 6.45 6.9 7.6 6.05 Build Quality (Out of 20) 11.2 7.9 11.5 12.5 10 3 7.6 11.8 7.6 12.4 7.9 15.1 11.2 Grand Total (Out of 100) 52.1 41.43 47.97 51.52 43.84 39.28 45.02 50.55 38.63 44.47 47 62.74 45.25 Specifications Max. Memory Supported (GB) / No of DIMMs 64 / 4 32 / 2 64 / 4 64 / 4 32 / 2 64 / 4 64 / 4 64 / 4 32 / 2 64 / 4 64 / 4 64 / 4 64 / 4 No. of SATA 3 ports 6 6 5 6 4 6 6 6 6 6 5 8 5 ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z No. of PCI Express x16 graphics slots 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 Optical SPDIF Port / LAN Port Y / 1 Y / 1 Y / 1 N / 1 Y / 2 Y / 1 Y / 1 Y / 1 N / 1 N / 1 Y / 1 Y / 1 Y / 1 Apart from the SSD, the board have the Z68A-GD80 (B3) and Integrated Wi-Fi (Y/N) N N N N Y N NN N N N N N is quite similar to the Z68AP-D3. Z68A-GD65 (B3). The GD80 is No. of ports: USB 2.0/USB 3.0/FireWire/eSATA 2/4/0/1 4/2/0/1 4/2/1/1 4/2/0/0 0/6/0/0 4/2/0/0 4/2/0/0 2/4/0/0 4/2/0/0 4/2/0/0 2/4/0/1 2/4/1/1 2/4/0/1 The build quality of the board is the higher end board of the two, Display Ports DVI / VGA / HDMI / Display Port Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/ N Y/Y/Y/N Y/N/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/N/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N Y/Y/Y/N quite good with sturdy heatsinks. sporting dual LAN ports, three Power and Reset Buttons (Y/N) N N N Y N N NN N N N Y N The PCIe slots can be used for SLI PCIe x16 slots, an eSATA port on Headers: USB 3.0 / USB 2.0 1 / 4 1 / 1 1 / 2 1 / 3 1 / 2 1 / 3 1 / 3 1 / 4 1 / 3 1 / 2 1 / 4 1 / 3 0 / 2 as well as CrossFire, but one of the back IO panel, better quality Debug LED (Y/N) N N N Y N N NN N N N Y N them runs at x8 speed. heat sinks and an extra SATA Fan Connectors 4 2 2 3 1 2 3 4 2 3 3 6 4 ASUS has the higher-end 6 Gbps port. Build quality of Micro Board Form factor ATX MicroATX Micro ATX ATX Mini ITX Micro ATX MicroATX Micro ATX Micro ATX ATX ATX Micro ATX P8Z68-V Pro and P8Z68 Deluxe both the boards is superb with ATX (the highest-end board outside military class components. The Board Layout (So 10) Region around the CPU 7 7 7 7 6.5 6.5 6 6 5 6 5 6 6.5 the RoG series of boards) in this standard MSI components such Location of SATA Ports 7 5 5 8 5 6.5 8 8 5 6 7 8 5 segment. A major difference as Super Ferrite Chokes (SFC), Placement of Memory modules 8 8 8 8 7 8 8 8 8 7 8 8 7 between the two is the absence DrMOS (Driver MOSFETs) and Graphics card slot and PCI slots 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 of display ports and presence solid state caps are all present. Build Quality of an extra LAN port, an extra Both boards support SLI and All Solid State Caps (Y/N) Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y eSATA port, a FireWire port CrossFireX. The OC Genie button Button build 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 and a coaxial S/PDIF port on the for overclocking-on-the-fly and Button Feedback 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 Deluxe. Both the boards support the voltage probe points are inter- VRM Heatsink Quality 6 0 6 5.5 5 0 0 7 0 7.5 0 7 5.5 dual intelligent processors such esting additions for enthusiasts. Southbridge Heatsink Quality 6 6.5 6.5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 as EPU (Energy processing Unit) MSI also has the UEFI BIOS Performance and TPU (Turbo V Processing which will take some time getting Cinebench R11.5 Unit). There are dedicated used to if you’re new to such kind OpenGL 26.01 26.45 26.34 26.25 26.56 26.46 26.14 26.19 26.14 26.44 26.72 26.56 25.97 switches to activate the EPU of BIOSes. MSI Control centre CPU (All cores) 3.45 3.48 3.39 3.47 3.32 3.4 3.41 3.42 3.45 3.45 3.43 3.45 3.45 and TPU processors. While the is the utility that allows you to 3D Mark 11 Overall 1035 1029 1031 1017 1033 1023 1029 1024 1026 1033 1033 1007 1008 EPU is meant for power saving overclock your system, run it at WinRAR 4.0 (Multi threaded) 1828 1841 1841 1828 1775 1777 1821 1764 1771 1834 1790 1834 1834 functions, we’re more interested lower power settings with the 100 MB file Video Encoding (VOB-DivX 7) (sec) 40.07 39.04 39.43 40.22 40.53 40.59 40.28 40.08 41.03 40.23 39.64 39.58 40.12 in the TPU, as that allows you Green Power tab File Transfer Sequential / Assorted (MB/s) 43.72/41.88 44.04/42.22 45.79/43.04 46.02/44.57 46.11/41.02 44.4/43.43 45.2/45.2 41.0/41.5 45.16/44.4 46.13/44.19 47.04/46.4 45.33/45.2 45.1/45.0 to automatically overclock your and monitor CPU USB 3.0 Sequential Write / Read (MB/s) 62.06/77.22 62.64/77.6 63.01/77.5 63.01/76.5 64.72/77.67 62.95/79.28 66.6/78.2 65.4/77.2 65.04/77.2 65.37/77.8 65.24/78.7 64.4/83.3 46.3/65.2 system by hitting USB 3.0 Assorted Write / Read (MB/s) 25.92/62.5 23.4/62.51 26.59/59.76 24.23/57.54 40.89/61.16 40.93/62.84 41.5/62.8 40.5/61.7 41.45/62.1 43.68/63.43 44.1/63.44 47.53/65.4 46.3/65.2 november 2011 Game Start on the Auto- Resident Evil 5 (1680x1050, med) 43.2 42.9 42.9 42.8 41.4 42.8 42.7 42.4 43.1 43.5 44.5 42.8 42.6 Tune function of the STALKER: COP (1680x1050, med) 26.6 26.4 26.4 26.2 25.6 26.1 26.1 26.2 26.2 26.4 26.5 25.9 25.8 Turbo V EVO utility. It’s a boon to ama- Wi-Fi adapter and an onboard below the CPU socket. The Intel teur overclockers graphics card. Its priced higher 20 GB SSD is ideal for users and a pleasure to considering it houses SO DIMM who’ll be using the Intel Rapid watch the system- slots, which has costlier laptop Storage Technology. You can use atic auto-tuning. RAM modules. DIGITit in the Enhanced Mode which But we wonder if it Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3-iSSD, writes data to both SSD and HDD interests hardcore is the only motherboard with an ie. mirroring and the maximised overclockers? on-board SLC SSD drive con- mode, which only writes to the Finally, coming to nected to an mSATA port just cache memory (SSD). the MSI boards, we ASRock Z68-Extreme7-Gen3

Digit | November 2011 | www.thinkdigit.com 93 Cabs of the future Down with the 3DS James Brighton drove the World’s first Nintendo dropped the price of Tried & tested RC cabs, a classic old English Taxi the 3DS from `12,400 to `8,436

debug LED and a full PCIe x16 figuration as opposed to x16/x4

november 2011 slot. The back panel IO is flush on the P8Z68-V LE. with connectivity options and The other ASUS board in makes for a perfect HTPC board. this segment is the RoG Max- It has dual LAN port, dual HDMI imus IV Gene Z. It comes in the ports and 8-channel audio out. micro ATX form factor and to The only unappealing part is the have a RoG feature set in this upward pointing SATA ports. form factor is quite impressive. With a heatsink and all other It lacks features such as RoG iDi- components, the board will be rect, RC Bluetooth, PCIe switches densely populated, in this case and USB BIOS Flashback, but upward pointing SATA ports for the price point, it’s packed ASUS P8Z68-V Pro are just not ideal for efficient with quite a lot of features such wire management. The ZOTAC as RoG Connect, Probelt and operation, temperatures and its plethora of features (which bundles two Wi-Fi antennas, a SupremeFX X-Fi2 audio solution voltages among other things. are equivalent to the `20,000 USB 3.0 bracket, an 8-pin power among others. There’s a POST ASRock Z68 Extreme7 and up category of boards) and connector to ease the connection debug LED and an HDMI out. Gen3 is the only Gen3 board we connectivity options. Another to the on-board power connector Build quality is similar to the received which indicates support board which we found inter- and a mini DP-DP adapter. Don’t higher end RoG board with for future Ivy Bridge processors, esting even though it’s not expect much in terms of over- sturdy heatsinks. Gamers can although you can get a present a winner, is the Gigabyte clocking as there are limited game with a single x16 or a dual generation board to support Ivy Z68XP-UD3-iSSD, specially options as compared to higher x8/x8 configuration. We would Bridge with a BIOS update. What for those who want to exploit end boards. The Mini PCIe have liked to see more USB 3.0 you won’t get however, is PCIe 3.0 the Intel RST feature. adapter can also function as an ports on the back panel though. chips, which will be the standard mSATA port in case you want to Overclocking options are easily for future graphics cards. Giga- `10,000 to `14,000 add an on-board SSD for RST in accessible thanks to the well byte G1 Sniper2 is the only other This category has an assortment the future. designed ASUS UEFI BIOS. So board having PCIe 3.0 support. of boards that are quite distinct ASUS P8Z68-V and P8Z68- in a way, those who can’t afford As of now you don’t have any card from each other. You get three V LE belong to the same line the higher end Extreme Z (which which can exploit PCIe 3.0 speeds, form factors here: ATX, Micro of boards, but LE is a slightly is overkill for most regular users) but makes sense if you want to ATX and Mini ITX. stripped down version of the but still want the RoG feature set future-proof your system. Let’s start off with the least higher end V, which itself is and dual GPU gaming, the Gene It’s packed to the gills with attractive of the boards, the Intel slightly low on the specs when Z makes for a great choice. features. The 10 SATA ports DZ68DB. We call it the least compared with V Pro and Deluxe. Coming to the MSI Z68MA- on the board will ensure you interesting because it can’t hold The P8Z68-V has an extra PCIe ED55 (B3) board, you get a well never run out of space to add a candle to the aesthetics, build slot, much better heat-sinks over laid out board with the Military more drives to your rig. There quality and feature set of the the VRMs, an extra PCI slot and Class II branding on the sturdy are also enough PCIe slots competing boards. There’s a lot of an eSATA port over the P8Z68-V heatsinks. Beside the OC Genie and an NVIDIA NF200 chip free PCB space on the lower side LE. The extra PCIe slot is ideal button you have a little buzzer for you to run a three-way SLI making us wonder if it really had for gamers who want dual GPU speaker and probe points to check setup. If you’re using a single to be an ATX form factor board. gaming as it allows an x8/x8 con- voltages manually using the con- graphics card, you need to lodge Plus, it has a mixture of electro- it in the second PCIe slot from lytic and solid state caps while the CPU to get an x16 speed. its competitors feature all-solid Build quality is brilliant with state caps. Pricing for such a basic

sturdy heatsinks on the VRMs board being `10,000 just does november 2011 as well as the southbridge, it is not make any sense. one great looking board. ZOTAC Z68ITX A-E is the Winners: ASUS P8Z68-V only mini ITX board in this Pro won the Best Buy as it offers category and a very interesting most of the features, seen onDIGIT the one at that. Lodge a high-end higher end P8Z68 Deluxe, at a CPU in it, and the board func- very attractive price. ASRock tions like any other board. It has Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 was a decent feature set such as an awarded the Editor’s Pick for on-board Wi-Fi adapter, POST ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z

94 Digit | November 2011 | www.thinkdigit.com Touch the world! Empower yourself Microsoft launches technology which Researchers have developed biofuel cells that can use can turn any surface into a touchscreen our own body’s glucose to generate electricity. http://cnet.co/mQgZL3 http://cnet.co/qSJbtR Motherboards Test

Contact sheet ASUS P8Z68-M Pro is a Brand Company Phone no E-mail Website compact board with as many AsRock Jupiter International +91-9830031901 info@.com.tw www.asrock.com as five USB 2.0 headers, five ASUS ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd. 18002090365 [email protected] www.asus.in SATA ports and features such Biostar Abacus Pvt.Ltd. 1800 22 1988 [email protected] www.abacusperipherals.com as iGPU Boost (which over- ECS Rashi Peripherals Pvt Ltd 91 22 4047 0828 [email protected] www.reptechindia.com clocks the integrated GPU with Gigabyte India 91-22-40633218 [email protected] www.gigabyte.in an on-board switch) and MemOK Pvt. Ltd. button. Although there are two Intel Intel 080-28542105 [email protected] www.intel.com PCIe x16 slots, only one of them MSI MSI India 1800 200000 4 [email protected] http://in.msi.com is true x16 whereas the other is Zotac Neoteric Informatique Ltd. +91-9891282522 [email protected] www.zotac.com locked to run at x4. The heatsink nectors bundled along with the Under `10,000 can’t add more USB 3.0 ports, quality is strictly OK as com- board. It only supports CrossFire We got just four sub `10,000 which is just sad. The UEFI pared to ones seen on higher end at x8/x8 configuration. The BIOS boards here, including the BIOS of Biostar board is quite boards, but it’s much better than menu of the MSI board is quite Biostar TZ68K+, Gigabyte easy to operate although it’s the Biostar one. attractive to look at. If you leave Z68AP D3, ASRock Z68 not as good looking as the one Gigabyte Z68AP D3 includes aside the proprietary RoG fea- Extreme3 Gen3 and ASUS found on ASUS or MSI boards. a unique feature in the form of tures, this board is comparable P8Z68-M Pro, which shows that A very interesting addition to an mSATA connector on which to the Maximus IV Gene Z. There Z68 boards aren’t cheap. the Biostar board is the BIO- you can lodge a solid state drive. are more display ports (DVI and Another aspect that stands out VGA) on the MSI board. Pricing on this board is the presence wise the ASUS board is `400 of serial and parallel ports on cheaper, so it’s anyone’s guess november 2011 the back panel IO. Now these which is a better option. ports are rarely used in a home If you plan to use graphics environment, so it makes us cards on all the slots then you’ll wonder if Gigabyte is targeting lose access to USB headers and this board at SOHO set-ups. But power/reset buttons in the MSI the presence of an HDMI port Z68MA ED55 board and in the is reassuring. The mSATA con- ASUS P8Z68-V board as a dual nector allows you to populate the slot card will cover these ports. board with your choice of SSD. Winner: ASUS Maximus IV Setting up the Rapid Storage Gene Z was awarded the Best Buy ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Transport technology using for the simple reason that you’re Gigabyte’s EZ Smart Response getting all the goodness of a high Biostar TZ68K+ makes for a Remote 2, which is basically an utility is a breeze. Don’t expect end gaming board in a micro good entry-level Z68 mother- Android and iPhone applica- extreme levels of overclocking ATX form factor. The pricing may board but the surprisingly lim- tion that lets you control your on this board though. seem high for a micro ATX board, ited connectivity options on the PC with your cellphone. You The build quality of the Giga- but if you do plan to pursue back panel I/O will leave many can use your phone as a remote byte and ASUS boards is better gaming or overclocking, there is of you disappointed. There control, as a mouse, to overclock than the Biostar boards. no better choice in this range. For are only two USB ports on the your system or update the BIOS ASRock Z68 Extreme3 normal users, the ASUS P8Z68V- back panel and the absence of a of your system remotely. Quite Gen3 has good styling, which LE makes sense. DIGITUSB 3.0 header means that you impressive at sub-`10,000. reminds you of its elder brother

Digit | November 2011 | www.thinkdigit.com 95 End of Google Buzz ASUS Swap Google has announced the closure of ASUS has started a “swap“ service Google Buzz to welcome Google+ for its UAE customers where they can Tried & tested http://bit.ly/qqofSx swap defective parts

- the Extreme7. The heatsinks itive as far as the A75 boards is and includes a dedicated sec- ATX form factor boards. The are quite sturdy and it houses concerned, as performance is a tion for overclocking, but is not A75-D3H is an ATX form factor a POST debug LED as well as function of the components being as exhaustive or as good looking board having all four USB 3.0 power/reset switches for over- used. Culling the best mother- as the MSI or ASUS BIOS. The ports on the back IO panel and an clockers. However, it has fewer boards for the price is quite a task heatsink quality is quite bad. The option to add two more with the SATA ports, USB 3.0 ports and Let’s start off with ASUS as BIO Remote is a nice feature to USB 3.0 header. Three PCI slots one less LAN port as compared to it sent the maximum number show off to your friends. It allows do seem like a lot and the second the Extreme7. Still, for its pricing, of boards, namely: F1A75-M you to control your system, play PCIe x16 slot runs at x4 speed. A the board is quite feature-rich. LE, F1A75M, F1 A75M Pro and back media files and even over- heatsink around the VRM region Build quality is great, it uses solid F1A75 V Pro. As is obvious from clock over the air using the Bio is absent and there is one SATA state caps and has a UEFI BIOS. the naming convention, the LE remote app on your iPhone or port pointing upwards. All the It lacks a USB 3.0 header, but no is a lower-end board, whereas Android device. Thankfully all Gigabyte boards feature the pro- other board in this category has the Pro boards are high-end. All the SATA ports point outwards. prietary DualBIOS chips which it either. One interesting aspect is the boards except the F1A75-V The ECS A75F-M, is an inter- allows you to maintain a backup that it has a provision for coolers Pro have micro ATX form factor. esting board especially consid- of the last stable BIOS on one of both, the Socket LGA 1155 as Apart from that, the V Pro has ering its pricing. The board comes chip, while you tweak the active well as the LGA 775, there’s a an additional SATA 6 Gbps in the microATX form factor and BIOS. Gigabyte BIOS is still the very thin gap between them, be port, more PCI and PCIe x1 slots, has bare minimum features. Cost old generation one and it’s a real extra careful while installing a an eSATA port and a Display- cutting on the board is evident - pity to have such good boards high-end cooler. Port on the back IO panel and a absence of a dedicated heat sink anf not have them running the Winner: ASRock proved its better heatsink with connecting around the VRMs, use of electro- latest UEFI BIOS. mettle yet again, when it bagged heat-pipe. The F1A75 M LE and lytic capacitors, upward facing ASRock sent us two boards, the Best Buy award for ASRock F1A75 M both have only two USB SATA ports, and two USB 3.0 theA75 Extreme 6 and A75 Z68 Extreme3 Gen3. 3.0 ports. The LE board has only drives. It sports a UEFI BIOS Pro4-M. The former is it’s flagship two DIMM RAM slots and lacks a with both the EZ and Advanced A75 board and the latter is a mid- A75 boards HDMI port. Its SATA ports point mode. The USB 3.0 charger helps range board. The Extreme 6 comes AMD introduced its Fusion upwards not sideways—a big turn in charging peripheral devices in with good features including eight desktop APU in the form of off for wire management. as many as five states: working, SATA 3 ports, POST debug LED, Llano and along with it, the A75 The F1A75-V Pro has better standby, suspend to RAM, etc. start/reset buttons and three PCIe chipset-based motherboards. The heatsinks than other ASUS The MSI A75MA-G55, is slots among other things. Build A75 chipset supports 10 USB 2.0 boards; the F1A75M, F1A75M an impressive board having a quality is very sturdy. The Pro4-M ports, 4 USB 3.0 ports, 2 USB 1.1 LE don’t have heatsink over military class certification. So, is the lower-end model with no ports (we think it’s a waste) and the VRMs. expect rock-solid build quality USB 3.0 header, two less USB 3.0 4 PCIe Gen 2 slots among other Biostar TA75A+ is a feature on the board. You get the option ports and SATA ports pointing things. The boards based on this -rich board but we would have to overclock the processor as well upwards (which we know by chipset are priced economically liked to see some more USB 3.0 as the integrated graphics in an now is not desirable). Both these as the APU that we used (A8- ports and a better heat-sink incremental manner. Of the six boards support the UEFI BIOS. 3850) is targetted at mainstream design for the south bridge. SATA ports on board, two of Winner: In case of the A75 users. The quad core Llano APU Looking at the layout, one gets them point upward, which can be boards the pricing was very close, houses the AMD HD 6550D GPU, the feel that this board could have problematic if you want to install so we decided to just award one which is based on the Redwood been a micro ATX one as 2 PCI a graphics card in the second slot. board. ASRock A75 Extreme 6 architecture and has 400 stream and 2 PCIe x1 slots seem a lot. The Gigabyte had three boards won the Best Buy award. Its fea- processing units. POST debug LED is a great addi- competing in this category: tures were neck-to-neck with Pricing is very compet- tion. It supports the UEFI BIOS A75M-D2H, A75M-UD2H and the ASUS F1A75 V Pro, but the A75-D3H. The A75M-D2H is Extreme 6 had better build quality, an entry-level board with only dedicated power/reset buttons november 2011 two RAM slots and two USB 3.0 and a slightly better board layout. ports. The UD2H has four DIMM Also, features such as a dedicated slots but a much more populated power/reset button and a POST back IO panel, which includes an debug LED gave the Extreme 6 a DIGITeSATA port as well as a FireWire push in the right direction. port. All the display ports such If you don’t intend to spend as HDMI, DVI, VGA and DP that much, you can go for the ECS are present on the UD2H. Both, A75F-M. The other good board ASRock A75 Extreme6 the D2H and UD2H are micro is the Gigabyte A75M-UD2H.

96 Digit | November 2011 | www.thinkdigit.com